Man reunited with dog for holidays after 11 years apart

As he watches his dog being brought down the hallway of the SEAACA Animal Care and Control Center, Tito Barocio says, "I never thought I'd see this day." 

The day he and Goyo were reunited; a dog Tito's wife gave him for a birthday present when the dog was just a pup, just eight weeks old.

Barocio says the dog has "been gone 11 years and 2 months!" He's missed him a lot.

Now at the age of 14, the dog limps, may have arthritis, and doesn't seem to recognize Tito—actually snaps at him or anyone who gets close. Until Tito can get him to a vet, he won't know what his health might be like. He looks down at the dog he used to take to work sites every day and says, "Poor guy."

The memories are vivid, like the day he was at a pub with Goyo, who was on the patio. "I had him tied up out there. I noticed a couple of girls drinking and playing with him, and the next thing I knew, they had hopped the little fence of the patio and took off with him."

Goyo was gone!

"I cried and cried and cried, and I looked around the whole town center and I said, 'Why? Why? Who would do that?" Tito said.

He's never known the answers, but Sunday he got a call from animal field officer Adrian Lopez, and that's how...

"I got to pick him up a couple of hours ago," Officer Lopez said.

Officer Lopez told me several people saw Goyo wandering the streets in Norwalk. One woman called in, and Lopez went to the scene, got the dog, the chip was checked, and Tito was notified.

Tito says, "She didn't have to turn him in. I thank her for that. If she'd like to get a hold of me, I'd like to get a hold of her and thank her."

And, as for those who took the dog, Tito says, "It was two gals at the town center that were drinking, and if they ever get to see this, I just want to know... why would you take my dog? But I got him back now."

The bottom line?

"Best Christmas of my life," Tito said.